(You're) Hard to Forget (And) Easy to Remember
by The White Pegasus
Summary: Percy laughs, "Oh my gods, I love you so much." He's smiling with so much affection at her, and she can't understand how lucky she got to get this incredible boy to love her. "I'll never forget you." Except, of course, cruise ships and radio competitions get in the way. Percabeth, a bit of Jasper. Slightly OOC. Rated T because I'm paranoid.


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I'd like to mention that I stole this idea from blackjacktheboss on tumblr and that this story is based off of her headcanons. Check out her site because it's absolutely amazing!

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(You're) _Hard to Forget_ (And) _Easy to Remember_

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When Percy first woke up, he had no idea where he was.

The last thing he remembered was the calming waves of the ocean, the salty scent of the sea, and the seagulls' cries, and after that, his memory was blank.

He cracked his eyes opened, and immediately squinted at the bright light coming from above him.

What was that rhythmic beeping noise? His head turned to the side to see that he was on a white hospital bed, connected to several different devices.

He turned his head back to the ceiling. Why was he in a hospital? He racked his brain for answers but came up with nothing. Why couldn't he remember anything?

"Oh good, you're up. Some of the doctors were wondering whether or not you had a chance. Wanted to pull the plug on you," says a voice to his other side. Blearily, he turns to the sound and sees a man sitting on a bed, like his.

"Whaaa…?" is all he manages. His throat is scratchy and dry. It feels like he hasn't used his voice in a year. Percy tries to clear his throat, and tries to speak again,

"Where am I?"

"Lenox Hill Hospital."

"Ok, _why_ am I here?"

"Is that in a philosophical sense? I wouldn't know. Or perhaps, it's a rhetorical question in which case I don't understand the point you're trying to make. I think you're asking how you got here, and sadly I can't tell you the events that have brought you here because I don't know them."

He stares, dumbfounded, at the man on the bed to his right.

"You do know you could have simply told me you don't know, instead of making that speech about philosophicky and rhetorical stuff."

"But then that would have stolen away my wise and mysterious disguise, wouldn't it have?" he smirks weirdly at Percy.

"Okaaaaaaay…" Percy says, nodding slowly. Just when he has come up with a decent response to the smart/mysterious/completely weird guy, a short nurse rushes in through the door.

"Finally, you're awake," she sighs, sitting down on a chair nearby his bed, working on the devices he is connected to.

"Hmmmm… seems like you're vitals are good, you've got nothing to worry about, except maybe hunger." As if on cue, his stomach rumbles loudly, and he suddenly realizes just how empty his stomach feels.

"What happened? Why am I here?" Percy asks the nurse. In the other bed, Percy hears his roommate mumbling about rhetorical or philosophical questions.

"You were on board a ship when something happened, there was a problem with the engine, and the boat sunk. There were few survivors, and you were one of the lucky few. You and some other guy both hit your heads real hard and now both of you have amnesia. I'll go get you your food now," says the nurse as he tries to understand what has happened to him.

"What if it was in a figurative sense?"

Yep, they definitely put him in the psycho ward.

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Luckily, a week later, they move him to another part of the hospital, but he still has a roommate. He only hopes that this time, it won't be a psycho obsessed with philosophy.

Fortunately, all it takes is a, "Hey, I'm Jason," and a "My name's Percy," and him and his new roommate immediately start talking like they've known each other for their whole lives.

They talk about normal stuff – like football teams and the weather – and about not-so-normal stuff – like whether unicorns are real or if planes can actually fly thanks to science and that it's not actually magic – and then sometimes they try and help each other remember stuff – like, what was their favorite baseball team? Do they have any family? If so, why aren't they here to see them?

Soon, Percy gets into a regular pattern. Each day, its being examined by doctors in the morning, then lunch, and then the afternoon is spent playing go fish with Jason ("You're really bad at this game, dude.") or rooting for some random baseball team on the little television in their room. ("You don't even know them, Percy," "I don't care, I love baseball." "Yeah, well, you don't know that either.")

After all, Percy should be grateful, he could be dead right now, his body buried in the bottom of the ocean, and yet… he feels like something is missing. Something important is missing from his life.

Sometimes, he thinks that maybe Jason understands him. Maybe he's also missing something.

He hopes he'll figure it out soon.

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He doesn't get that feeling again until the 30th of December, when he and Jason are sitting in Avery Fisher Hall, waiting for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to enter and perform it's first piece, _Capriccio Espagnol, _by Rimsky-Korsakov.

He and Jason had soon befriended a young nurse at Lenox Hill, Hazel Levesque, and they had bonded quickly. She was extremely kind and sweet, and the concert had actually been her idea.

Jason and Percy had been moaning about being stuck in the hospital for forever, so Hazel had gotten them the tickets, and it had been up to them to be able to sneak out of the hospital.

So here they were, Avery Fisher Hall, ready to listen to some big concert of classical music. Even though he wasn't a big fan of classical music – and sitting for two hours in a small space, wedged between an old guy and Jason, wasn't Percy's idea of fun – the two tickets to the concert had been all Hazel had been able to get them, and he was still happy to get out of the hospital.

That was, until she came onstage.

There was something special about her. It made his head spin, and his palms sweat. She hadn't even turned around yet, but he saw her curly blonde hair, tied up in a high ponytail, and in her hand was a beautifully crafted violin. Suddenly, the world tunneled around him, and he wasn't in the concert hall anymore, he was in a warm bed, and it was late morning.

_Golden light is filtering through the curtains, glinting off of a beautiful girl's blonde hair. Her grey eyes were soft, and she was talking to him and in a soft voice._

_"He's a full length acoustic Stradivarius… I named him Ralph."_

_"You named him Ralph_?" _he hears his own voice, and he hears the slight jealousy._ _"You sure you don't love him more than you love me?"_

_"Never Perce. It'll always be you," she laughs, pulling closer to him, and she's going to kiss him, oh god-_

And suddenly, he's back in Avery Fisher Hall, he's no longer in the warm bed with the gorgeous girl; he's back in the hard seat waiting for a concert to start.

But then she turns around, and it's her, it's the girl from the bed, with the golden hair and stunning grey eyes, and he can't take it anymore.

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Jason finds him outside the concert hall, leaning against a tree, breathing heavily. He ran outside as soon as her eyes met his and sat down against the tree to clear his thoughts.

Because there was _something_ about her. She was something… something important. He knew it.

He and Jason decide to just walk around New York until the concert ends because if Hazel saw them back this early, she would've known that they had skipped the concert.

They go to an Italian Restaurant close by and eat dinner in silence, until Jason gets the courage and asks Percy what happened.

"I don't know Jason… I just… Did you see the violinist? The one with the curly blonde hair?"

Jason frowns slightly. "Yeah, I do. What about her?"

"I know her. I wish I could see her again."

(And yes, they both ignore the fact that Percy's voice sort of broke at the end, because he's hurting, and he's allowed to break down sometimes.)

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A week later, they are discharged from the hospital, and suddenly they have to get jobs and a house and make a living.

Luckily, the apartment opposite Hazel's is up for rent, so they decide to become roommates and get the apartment.

Percy works at the restaurant that they had eaten at earlier, when he had had his break down. Luckily, the manager had been really kind to him and was happy to have another employee. (Apparently, their last employee had quit because the owner of the restaurant was completely mental or something.) Jason worked at a small afterschool-club-thing where he tutored middle school kids math and science.

At the Italian restaurant, Percy met a funny guy named Leo, who was also the best pizza cook ever, and he, Jason and Leo sometimes hung out with Hazel's boyfriend, Frank, playing videogames watching movies, and generally having fun.

Percy knew there was something more than delivering pizza to his life. He just didn't know what.

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One Saturday morning, neither Percy nor Jason had any work and sadly, it was Jason's turn to choose the TV show they would be watching.

So of course he chose the Today Show. (The most boring of boring TV shows, in Percy's opinion.)

"Well, today with us, we have lovely Annabeth Chase, a violinist in the New York Philharmonic and Piper McLean, a plane stewardess. Now, ladies will you tell us what happened to your boyfriends, a month ago?"

It would have been an understatement to say that Percy freaked out. He jumped up and down; making weird squealing noises while his hands waved around like some octopus.)

"Well, Percy Jackson, my boyfriend, and Jason Grace, Piper's boyfriend, had been best friends since college. They had just won two tickets from a radio contest to go on a trip on a cruise, but the ship… sunk." Annabeth had mostly kept a straight face through the whole speech, but at the end, she cringed slightly, as if even the mention of the ship that supposedly took their lives hurt her.

Piper put her arm around Annabeth, trying to comfort her.

"I'm really sorry to hear that. But they haven't found the bodies yet?"

"No, they haven't. We have hope that Percy and Jason are maybe out there somewhere," Piper answered this time.

"Well, is it alright if I ask you about your relationships with Percy Jackson and Jason Grace?"

Piper looked at Annabeth carefully as if asking her silently if she could answer.

"Um, well, as you all know, I'm a plane stewardess, and Jason is actually the pilot of the plane that I usually work on. After a few weeks, we just… he just asked me out for coffee. And then from there we became a couple. In fact… tomorrow is our one year anniversary," Piper informed the TV presenter sadly.

Jason stared at the TV wondering what was going on. _That_ was his girlfriend? He felt like laughing. She was _way_ out of his league.

"And, what about you Annabeth? How were things with Percy?"

"I… we had been best friends since we were 12, and at 16, we got together. I've never loved anyone like I love Percy. I had actually met Piper at summer camp, when I was younger, and now we're friends again. Things between Percy and I had been really great… Actually… I haven't told anyone this, not even Piper…"

Piper leaned forward in her seat, just as Percy did.

"Me and Percy… we were talking about getting married."

Silence.

Percy leaned back on the couch, his eyes wide with shock.

"He had bought a ring – without telling me – before he left for the cruise. I found it in our bedside drawer. I think he had wanted to ask me when he came back from the cruise but…" Annabeth sniffled a little, and wiped her fingers under her eyes, "I guess he never got the chance."

"Oh my god, Annabeth," Piper exclaimed staring in shock as her best friend revealed the gleaming silver ring on her fourth finger.

"Oh dear, I truly am sorry," the TV presenter intoned sorrowfully. "If you have any idea where these two men are, please contact Annabeth and Piper using these phone numbers."

A picture of Percy and Jason flashed on screen. They were younger, and they were both wearing sunglasses, smiling. A phone number flashed on the bottom of the screen.

The first one to move was Percy, and he lunged for the phone, quickly typing in the phone number on the screen. He looked up at Jason's face, his hands slightly trembling, and his face somewhat scared, yet mostly relieved.

"It's okay man… go and call your girlfriend now," Jason laughed, as Percy smiled shakily, moving into the small kitchen to call her.

He sighed, letting his head rest on one of the cabinets, listening to the buzzing tone on the phone as he realized exactly what he was doing.

He was calling Annabeth. He was going to talk to Annabeth. The love of his life. His _wisegirl_, his-

Wait where did _wisegirl_ come from?

But it's too late to analyze what his brain was thinking because right then, Annabeth picked up.

"Hello?"

"I… hi Annabeth. It's… it's me Percy," he says slowly. The other end of the line is silent and what if he scared her? What if she thinks it's a prank? What if the whole thing is a massive prank? (He shakes that thought from his brain because this is the girl he nearly proposed to, she wouldn't be playing a prank like this on him.)

"I… I'm really sorry I didn't get to your concerts, wisegirl, though to be fair I kinda did-"

Her voice is quiet and sounds a bit hysteric when she cuts him off.

"What did you just call me?"

"What, 'wisegirl'? I mean… it's your nickname… right?"

He hears a lot of swearing including his name before he hears her voice again.

"Oh my god, seaweed brain, it's really you."

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They decide to meet at a café called _The Big House _(a rather strange name for a coffee shop but Percy can tell that it's an important place in his life.) He's sweating and his hands are clammy, and he feels like he's going to throw up. Annabeth could be completely over him. Or she could be the clingy girlfriend that he really wanted to get rid of so he got amnesia. Or maybe she was a serial killer. (He doubted the last one. They wouldn't let serial killers on TV shows… right?) He sighed, and sipped carefully on his coffee, making sure it wasn't too hot. That was when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and then Annabeth was standing _right there_. Like, _right there._

He had to take a second to just take in all of her, her curly blonde hair, her steel grey eyes, the navy blue jacket wrapped around her… and he suddenly realizes that he knows that jacket. All of a sudden, memories start flashing through his head;

he's six and dancing through an apartment wearing a jacket that's way too big for him, and he hears two people laughing to his right, and he turns, there's the flash of a camera;

he's twelve, (the jacket's still a bit big) and he's hurrying home in the cold rain, and he turns to his right to see this pretty blonde girl laughing, and he realizes she's laughing at something _he_ said;

then he's sixteen and he's standing with the same blonde girl on the sidewalk and he drapes it across her shoulders because they're both freezing from the snow and she turns to kiss him;

he's twenty-one and he's holding the jacket above his and the girl's head as it's raining, and everything's amazing (and no, it's not because she kissed him, you can't say that, it's definitely because he just graduated.)

"That's… that's my jacket…" is the first thing he says to her, and he kind of wants to slam his head on the table because he's such an _idiot _and why did he just say that?

"I… yeah, it is…" she looks at herself as if she just realized she was wearing it. "It… it reminds me of you," she finished quietly.

Slowly, he stands up, taking Annabeth's hands, and he feels how her hands are trembling as well, and this warmth fills up in his chest, like he might just explode because he loves her so much.

Annabeth leans forward, slightly unsure, but then he's pushing forward as well, and suddenly her nose brushes against his, and he feels like electricity has just passed through his body and-

Percy's sixteen again, he's nervous as hell and so giddy and happy and he just wants to hold her-

And then she's kissing him. Kissing him like she's in a dry desert and he's her oasis, and he nearly falls back on his seat with the amount of force and passion that she kisses him with.

(He realizes he's kissing her back just as strongly as she is.)

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There is something extremely warm and extremely soft next to him.

He sighs, curling more tightly around said warm and soft thing and buries his face in it, breathing in the soft sent of lemons and honey.

"Stop, Perce. I'm ticklish," Annabeth giggles, trying to get away from him.

"Hmmmmm… no. You're warm," he says, cuddling into her, nuzzling her neck, and wrapping his arms tighter against her waist.

Annabeth hums, running her hand through his hair, and he can't stop the grin on his face as the light glints off of the ring on her fingers.

"Hi Mrs. Chase-Jackson," he smiles at her, leaning into her touch.

"Hi yourself," she says contently.

A year ago, Percy didn't even remember Annabeth.

And yet, here they are, happily married, and currently waiting for the third Chase-Jackson who will come out to the world in five months.

It hadn't been easy, that was for sure. However, with weekly counseling sessions from Annabeth's uncle, Chiron, many Oreos and a ton of cuddling, Percy and Annabeth made it and here they are finally married, living the life they always wanted.

(Percy quitted his job at the Italian restaurant, and went back to his old job of a firefighter. He missed all the pizza, but it was good to see all his old colleagues.)

"I love you."

"That's good."

"You're supposed to say it back," Percy whined.

"I love you too," Annabeth sighed. "Now can we go back to sleep please?"

He sighed, cuddling her and burying his face in her neck as they fell asleep.

He was never entering a radio competition ever again in his life.

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End file.
